With such a large portion of Georgia’s economic activity tied up in the housing market, Moultrie and surrounding areas of Georgia are still reeling from the economic downturn of recent years. The past five years have seen a significant drop in new home sales and resells, and a huge increase in foreclosures. Although the number of foreclosures continues to be lower in recent months as compared to the same month last year, both statewide and locally, home sales are slow, and the median sales prices continue to lag behind what they were a year ago.
Foreclosures
Of the 356 homes in Moultrie, Georgia that are currently for sale, 99 are in some state of foreclosure. This includes those that have not yet had a sale date established, those that are within weeks of being auctioned, and those that have been bought by banks but not yet resold. This represents a decrease of almost 20% from the number of homes in foreclosure at this time last year, and approximately 30% fewer foreclosures than this same time period in 2010. That is good news for Moultrie, Georgia homeowners.
Home Sales
The average listing price for homes in Moultrie is $151,190, which is comparable to last year’s figures. However, the average selling price between mid-July and mid-August was $75,754. This represents a decline of 8.2% over the last quarter, and a 14.6% decrease from last year. The average price of $52 per square foot is a 5.5% decline from last year. These numbers are similar for surrounding areas, including Tifton, Albany, and Douglas. Of the homes for sale that are not foreclosures, a number of the properties were short sales on properties that had not yet reached pre-foreclosure status. This has some effect on the median sales prices as many are sold below market value.
2nd Quarter Trends
Although sales prices remain low, there is some good news as evidenced from 2nd quarter trends. Overall, prices on homes are starting to go up, and the surplus is decreasing. Houses are also spending less time on the market than as compared to last year. In addition, multiple offers are being made for houses, which is another good sign. Short sales on pre-foreclosures are getting as many as ten offers each, indicating that buyers are interested. While many sellers are still holding off, waiting for a little more rebound in the market, enough are being offered to keep the market moving along, slowly but surely.
National 2nd Quarter Trends
At a median sales price of $181,100, nationwide prices on existing homes are up 7% from last year; new home sales prices showed an increase of 3% over last year, with a median price of $235,300. For new home construction, the number of multi-family units built increased by 41% over last year; multi-family construction has been significantly down since the housing downturn, and this figure indicates that a significant rise. Nationwide foreclosures are down 11% from last year for figures representing all loan types. Conventional subprime loans saw the largest decrease over last year’s figures at 19%.
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